


Monday Morning Secret Phone Club

by AltoidParty



Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: (That's just Near talking about his case), Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Matt and Mello are mentioned but only a little, Post-Canon, They discuss work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-28
Updated: 2017-05-28
Packaged: 2018-11-05 21:16:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11021757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AltoidParty/pseuds/AltoidParty
Summary: Linda gets an expected phone call at work.





	Monday Morning Secret Phone Club

**Author's Note:**

> NOTE AS OF 8/5/2018: Looking back, I don't really like this fic, but I don't want to delete it for those of you who do. Long story short, I don't think it's representative of my current writing skill (though my current isn't much better.) 
> 
> Regardless, I still like the Near and Linda dynamic. Enjoy!!

Linda swipes her hand through her hair and yawns. She's not even really begun working yet and it seems like the coffee is wearing off. She always gets out of bed at four or so in the mornings to work. It's a familiarity thing, she thinks.

Back at Wammy's House, where she grew up, she would roll out of bed, tiptoe past her roommate to gather her things, and make her way to the playroom to paint until six or so. He would always be there, small and ghostly, almost always stacking something or solving that solid white puzzle. Occasionally he would put together a model kit, something precise and with a ton of parts.

Even now, Linda thinks of him as someone ghostly, seeming to phase through the walls of her world and surprise her. She sets her brush down and makes her way over to the little coffee machine by the window. She remembers Roger's face when he saw her serve herself coffee at the age of five. He only scolded her once before deciding that it wasn't worth it to argue with her over it. She would get her coffee, and eventually it turned into other children running off with it in the middle of the day. She refills her mug and dumps a load of hazelnut creamer into it, then wanders back to the blank canvas. It's got a few layers of primer on it already. As she takes a sip, pulling back and swallowing quickly when she remembers how hot it is, she decides she needs to think on it some more. She needs some motion going on. She takes a wide brush and the tray with gesso in it, lifts up the plastic wrap keeping the paint wet, and starts to add another layer on top of what she already had.

Of course, her phone would ring right about now. It was Monday, anyways.

She really needs to finish this painting. Linda sighs, her hand still on its way to picking up the cell phone. With its scale, it'll take her a good couple of days to get it finished, and she'll still have one more to finish before the show. At the same time, she never knows if it's going to be something important from him.

Plus, he needs someone to talk to just as much as anyone else. She grabs the phone and taps the "answer" button. "Linda here."

"There are some mysterious deaths going on in your city. Be cautious." Linda had read something about that this morning. Fifteen dead, all suicides, and all within thirty minutes of each other. A lot of garbage in the comment section of the article she read saying it was Kira's return, and that he was judging those people because they were evil.

"Good morning to you too, Near. I'm gonna put you on speaker, gotta finish this project." Start on this project. Linda places the phone back on the desk, hitting the little megaphone symbol.

"That's fine. Is it for the charity show?" Near asks, something in the background gently clacking together, being stacked.

"Yeah, charity show." Linda says. "So, any recommendations on how to stay cautious?" Linda can't imagine what exactly could drive fifteen random adults in Seattle to suicide, but she can make a guess.

"Don't show your face to a lot of people, don't give out your full name." Near answers.

"Huh. Maybe the conspiracy nuts are right, you think Kira is connected to this?" It had been a long time since Kira went dormant for the second time. First it was criminals, then the sick and elderly, and now? A selection of young people living in Seattle. Odd choice, really, and would sound a lot like a suicide pact if it weren't for the fact that nobody in the group really knew each other.

"No chance."

"What do you mean?" Linda finishes her layer of paint and sets the brush down. "It's a string of weird deaths, with the only thing needed being a name and a face? Sounds similar to Kira at the very least."

The clacking of the things being stacked stops. "I can't really explain."

"Near. If this is some 'confidential information' nonsense, I'm going to call you out on it. How many of your cases that you've told me about are considered confidential? Threats to national security for me to know? God knows how many. You told me Matt and Mello were dead three months before Roger sent his statement out to the rest of the kids." Linda turns her sketchbook to a new page and finds a pen. Her mind recalls a face and the drawing seems to spring out of the pen with no effort.

Near sighs. "It's only partly that."

"Near."

"Linda."

She crosses her arms. "Don't mimic me." she giggles.

He sighs. "Remember how I called you the second time Kira stopped?"

"Yeah, the fake Kira. What about it?" She uncrosses her arms and fills in flat colors over the sketch, leaving white spaces for highlights.

She hears something fall over loudly, clattering all over the floor. "Shit," Near says. "I'll get that later. Linda, we caught Kira."

Linda stops and sets the pencils down. "No shit. How'd you do it?"

"You don't sound too surprised." The rhythm of clacking noises starts up again.

"I mean, I figured," She rests her hand on her chin. "That doesn't answer my question, though. How did you do it?"

"Pure luck." Near pauses a moment. "And Mello's help."

Linda hums in understanding. "I think my paint is done drying. You want this drawing?" He's going to say yes, so she grabs a craft knife from the side of the table and cuts the image out.

"Sure, how much is it?" Not that that would really be a problem for Near.

"Free of charge. Birthday gift! Same P.O. box as last time?" Linda blocks in a dark brown on the canvas.

There's a moment of silence. "It's my birthday? Let me look." Another pause. "Look at that." He sighs again, irritated. "Unfortunately, this means I'll have to cut this call off short. I hope you understand."

"Got a date?" Linda snorts, then feels a bit bad about it. "Sorry, sorry. Drawing will be in the mail before the night's over."

"Sounds good, Linda. I will talk to you la-"

"Near, can I ask you something?" Linda starts to shape the face in the image. "Make sure you stay safe, too? I really appreciate Monday Morning Secret Phone Club."

Near takes a moment to respond, and for a moment Linda wonders if he hung up on her. "I'll do what I can. I appreciate it too."

"Good. Now go get your stuff done. Hear from you next Monday?"

"Hopefully. Goodbye."

"Bye, Near." The line goes quiet, then a trio of boops, and her phone screen shows her lock image. She takes a sip of her now cold coffee and shakes her head. “I worry about that kid.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> I did it. I wrote an entire fanfiction. I also had exactly nobody beta read this, so it's definitely (really) rough around the edges. I'm just happy to have completed something! I think I could have done a better job making Near sound and act more like Near. I'm sure I'll get there someday. 
> 
> AltoidParty.tumblr.com is where I yak endlessly about Death Note right now.


End file.
